


A True Match

by fangirlingtodeath513



Series: Dean and Cas Bingo [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cat Castiel (Supernatural), Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Magic, Witch Dean Winchester, Witch's Familiar Castiel (Supernatural)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-27 13:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20408434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirlingtodeath513/pseuds/fangirlingtodeath513
Summary: Castiel's neighbor, Dean, is harboring a secret that may change the way Castiel sees him. Animosity ensues, at least until they have to team up to save the town from certain destruction.





	A True Match

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Back with another bingo fill. This one's for the 'neighbors' square. You can find the masterpost for this bingo right [here](https://fangirlingtodeath513.tumblr.com/post/187103213249/fangirlingtodeath513s-dean-and-cas-bingo). 
> 
> Beta'd by the lovely [Gii](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heylittleangel) <3

Castiel’s never actually seen his next-door neighbor. He’s heard weird sounds and smelled sage and all different kinds of herbs coming from the house, though. He’s starting to think his neighbor may be a witch or a Satanist, neither of which bodes well for Castiel.

Aside from that, he’s felt a pull toward that house since he moved in, nearly six months ago now. Cas has tried bringing dinners and baked goods over to introduce himself, but his knocks have never been answered.

He doesn’t do it often, but one night he shifts into his feline form and heads out for a walk in the nearby forest. It’s peaceful and warm outside, and Castiel stays out until well after the sun sets. He doesn’t head home until the evening chill starts to creep through his fur, chilling him to the bone.

It’s not a terribly long walk back to him home—he hadn’t wandered too far—but he finds a light on in the back of his neighbor’s house. It’s in a window he could easily leap to in his current form and curiosity gets the better of him. He leaps onto the windowsill, peering inside.

There are plants everywhere. There are two baskets hanging above the window, winding leaves trailing all the way down to the floor. There are flowering pots scattered around the room, along with a few succulents adorning the desk underneath the window, which seems to be the only furniture in the room.

There’s a man sitting in the middle of the room with his eyes closed and his hands resting loosely on his thighs. He’s shirtless and Castiel takes a moment to drink in the dark black lines of tattoos that cover nearly every inch of his arms, with a few more scattered across his chest and stomach. He can’t make out the man’s face with it bowed like it is, which is unfortunate. Castiel would guess that he’s beautiful.

A big, fat raindrop lands on Castiel’s head and startles him. He loses his footing and crashes to the ground with a dull thud. Meowing lamely, he gets to his feet and bats at the wet spot on his head just as it starts to pour.

The sliding glass door nearby slides open and the man Castiel had been spying on smiles at him. “Hey there, kitty. C’mon inside, get out of the rain.”

Castiel eyes the man warily, but eventually accepts the invitation. He doesn’t want to stay out in this storm, and he _ has _ felt a draw toward the house since he moved in.

The man slides the door closed behind him, grabbing a towel off the couch nearby and kneeling down near Castiel. The man holds up the towel, raising an eyebrow. “May I?”

Castiel watches him for a minute before taking a few steps closer. The man gently dries him off, petting down Castiel’s back slowly.

“There we go, all dry. You hungry? I don’t have cat food but I have a few cans of tuna.”

Castiel blinks up at the man, curling up next to him on the floor. The man smiles and pets Cas gently.

“No collar on you, hm? I wonder whose kitty you are, they must be missing you.”

_ If only _, Cas laments. He doesn’t have anyone to go home to, just an empty, sparsely decorated house.

The man continues to sit there and pet him, much to Castiel’s enjoyment. He’s hardly ever around anyone in his feline form, he’d forgotten how nice it can be. 

Eventually, once the rain stops, Castiel pushes himself up onto his paws and crosses to the sliding door, looking back at the man. He seems to take the hint, unlocking the door and letting Castiel outside.

“Be careful going home, bud.”

Castiel meows quietly, feet squishing the rain-soaked ground as he heads home.

* * *

He finally meets his neighbor in person the next day. He’s leaving for work when his handsome neighbor comes outside, clad in a gray bathrobe and slip-on shoes.

“Hey, man. Sorry we haven’t had the chance to meet yet. I’m Dean.” He extends a hand, which Castiel shakes. 

“Castiel. Busy times?”

Dean smiles. “Winter’s my busiest time at work, things are finally starting to slow down now that it’s springtime.”

Castiel smiles politely. “Well, it was nice to finally meet you, Dean. I’d like to stay and chat but I need to get to work.”

“Yeah, man, by all means. I’ll see you around.”

Castiel turns to head to his car but Dean reaches out and grabs his forearm. “Hey, do you have a cat?”

Castiel freezes momentarily before turning back to Dean. “I do. Why?”

“I think he might’ve been over at my place last night, during the thunderstorm. Black cat with white paws?”

Castiel nods slowly. “That’s him, yes. I hope he didn’t bother you?”

“Nah, man, not at all. He get home okay?”

“He did, thank you. Have a good day.”

Dean smiles, releasing his arm. “Yeah, you too.”

Castiel smiles tightly, heading off for work.

* * *

He tells himself there won’t be a repeat of him snooping on Dean, but that only lasts a couple of days. The pull back to the house is too strong to resist, so he shifts to his feline form and makes his way to Dean’s house.

Dean’s in the living room this time and he looks over at the sliding glass door at the same time that Castiel steps in front of it, almost like Dean had been expecting him. He slides the door open and allows Cas inside. 

“Met your owner the other day,” Dean says, sliding the glass door shut. “Bet he’s missing you. Sure you don’t want to go home?”

Castiel blinks up at him in response before hopping up onto the couch and curling up into a ball. Dean chuckles, sitting back down and petting down Cas’s back gently. “Guess you can hang out here for a while, but you gotta get home soon. Castiel will be worried.”

Dean scratches behind Cas’s ears and he can’t help the purr that rumbles through his chest. Dean chuckles quietly, but then falls silent.

He knows it’s creepy to trick Dean like this. Dean didn’t ask for this and Castiel is taking advantage of his hospitality. Still, he can’t bring himself to stop. Night after night, he returns to Dean’s home, almost like he’s being lured there by a siren song. He couldn’t stop himself even if he wanted to. 

It doesn’t help that Dean’s started to treat him like a pet, either. He’s taken to leaving the glass door cracked open enough that Castiel can come inside whenever he pleases, and there’s almost always a bowl of tuna fish waiting for him in Dean’s kitchen.

After about a month, Castiel lets himself explore Dean’s home. It’s a single-story, similar to Castiel’s, but bigger. Dean has two spare bedrooms, though one of them has been turned into an office with papers strewn on nearly every surface. There’s a bathroom off the hallway, with the kitchen and living room on the other end of the house.

There’s a door right next to the living room that’s closed. Castiel paws at the door, looking around to find Dean watching him. He paws at the door again, intensely curious about what’s behind it. Dean purses his lips but eventually crosses to the door and opens it, letting Castiel inside.

Castiel scrambles out of the room so quickly that he trips over his own paws and falls flat on his face. Everything slots into place and he bolts for the glass door, praying that it’s still open. 

It’s the room Castiel had seen him in that night so many weeks ago. He hadn’t seen everything from that window, though. On the same wall as the window are two bookshelves full of witchcraft books, supplies, and a second desk set up as a workbench. His neighbor is a witch.

The sliding glass door is closed and locked when Castiel reaches it. He lets out a pathetic mewl as he looks for another way out.

“I’m not gonna hurt you, Cas,” Dean murmurs, standing across the room with his hands held up, palms out, no doubt in an attempt to ease Cas’s worries. It does no such thing, especially given that Dean knows he’s a familiar now. No point in hiding anymore, he supposes. 

He shifts back to his human form, directing his icy glare at Dean. “Then let me go.”

Dean motions toward the door. “You’re free to leave whenever you’d like, but I was hoping you’d hear me out.” 

“Why would I listen to anything you have to say, _ witch _? Your kind has enslaved familiars for hundreds of years, why should I even slightly trust you?” Castiel spits, already backing up toward the door.

“Because I’ve known you were a familiar since I introduced myself. If I wanted to hurt you, I could’ve done it before now.”

Castiel doesn’t relax his stance, but Dean does have a point. “What do you want?”

Dean puts his hands down. “Your help.”

Castiel scoffs. “_ My _ help? What could you possibly want from me?”

“You can’t tell me you haven’t felt it, too,” Dean says, frowning. “That pull? I’ve never felt it before but it feels like all the explanations I’ve read about true matches.”

He frowns. Now that he thinks about it, that inexplicable pull he’s been feeling for months is exactly what he’s imagined a true match would feel like. “So what?”

Dean frowns. “I’ve been here for years, protecting the town, but it’s getting harder and harder. The weather’s getting more extreme and I can’t counter it on my own anymore. I don’t have the strength.”

Castiel wrinkles his nose. “Protecting the town? Yeah, right. Your kind doesn’t do anything for the benefit of others. Nice try, though.”

Dean’s frown deepens. “I get why you’d think that, but I really have been protecting the town. At least, I try to. People come to me for protection spells and charms. It’s not a huge income, but it pays the bills.”

Castiel scoffs. “So you take advantage of people in vulnerable situations.”

Dean sighs, running a hand through his own hair. “Fine, just… forget I said anything.”

“Gladly,” Cas bites out, unlocking the glass door and heading back to his own house.

* * *

He doesn’t think about Dean again for another few weeks. He’s determined to forget about the witch, despite the continuous pull to the house. He’s successful, at least for a little while.

Near the end of the summer, a storm settles over the town. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem, but this storm rapidly turns into a tornado that’s heading straight for their little town. This isn’t an area that typically gets tornados and it could be catastrophic if the town isn’t protected. 

That’s why Cas isn’t shocked when Dean comes knocking on his door. He looks wild—his hair is disheveled like he’s been running his hands through it and he looks panicked.

“I know you hate the idea, but I can’t do it by myself, I’m not strong enough. _ Please _, Cas.”

Truth be told, he hates the idea. But this is his town, too, so he grabs his keys and follows Dean back to his house.

“What do you need me to do?”

Dean lets him into his house, leading him to the room Castiel had seen the very first time he’d looked inside Dean’s house. “Just focus my magic. If you can do that, I should be able to make the storm dissipate.”

Castiel nods, shifting into his cat form and blinking up at Dean expectantly. Dean hesitates for a moment before sitting cross-legged on the floor and sinking a hand into Cas’s fur.

Dean’s magic is tingly and warm as it passes through Cas’s body. Despite never having worked with a witch before, it’s nearly effortless to focus Dean’s magic, and the room crackles with power. It’s intoxicating, having that much power coursing through his body, and it looks like Dean’s feeling the same way.

Cas glances up at the witch and nearly stumbles away in fear. Dean’s eyes are glazed over and glowing brightly. A crack of lightening lights up the sky and the thunder rumbles Dean’s house. They sky darkens and it starts to downpour, almost like Dean’s trying to accelerate the tornado, not stop it.

He thinks about moving away from Dean, but at this point, he has to trust the witch to do what he’d said he’d do. He watches out the window, nervously jumping when a particularly loud rumble of thunder makes the window rattle in its frame.

The storm clears just as quickly as it had started and the sun shines down again, lighting up the room. Dean looks particularly beautiful in this lighting, though Cas would never admit that. 

Dean’s hand slips from his fur and he slumps to the ground. Cas springs to his feet, pawing at Dean’s cheek.

Eventually, Dean’s eyes flutter open and he smiles weakly at Castiel. “I’m fine, man. Jus’ tired. You can go, thank you for your help.”

Castiel shifts back to his human form, pulling Dean to his feet. “Come on, at least rest in bed and not on the hardwood floor.”

Dean acquiesces, letting Cas help him to his feet and lead him to his bedroom. Dean crawls into bed and is sound asleep before Cas can say anything else. 

Cas thinks about going home, he really does, but his guilt stops him. He’s spent all this time hating Dean for being a witch when he really _ had _ been protecting the town. So, instead of going home, he makes his way to the kitchen and searches through the cabinets and fridge. He settles on making a simple dinner of chicken alfredo, quietly working in Dean’s kitchen as the other man rests. 

“You’re making me dinner?” Dean’s voice comes from behind him, so Castiel glances at him quickly before setting the plates of food on the table.

“I figured I owed you an apology, and I thought I’d make sure you ate something. I hope you don’t mind.”

Dean smiles and shakes his head, taking a seat at the table. “Nah, man, I appreciate it.”

Castiel nods, sitting down and eating quietly. 

Dean does the same, sighing happily after a moment. “Cas, this is delicious.”

Castiel smiles softly. “Thank you. Are you okay?”

Dean hums. “Better now. Just drained. What made you change your mind?”

Castiel shrugs. “It’s my town, too. Whether or not I trusted you, I had to try.”

Dean smiles. “You ever done that before? Focused someone’s magic?”

Castiel wrinkles his nose, shaking his head. “I’ve stayed as far away from witches as possible. Your kind tend to treat mine like crap.”

Dean frowns but nods. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry about that.”

“Not your fault. Besides, I may have been a little hasty in judging you.”

Dean raises an eyebrow, smirking. “That mean you trust me?”

Castiel shoots him a glare, though there’s no heat behind it. “Trust is a strong word. But yes, somewhat.”

Dean hums, finishing his dinner and leaning back in his chair. “Well, looks like I owe you dinner.”

Castiel smiles. “Technically, I owe _ you _ dinner, since you paid for all of this food, I just cooked it.”

Dean smirks. “Well, I ain’t gonna say no to a date.”

Castiel blinks at him. “A… date? You want to go on a date with me?”

Dean raises his eyebrows. “Uh, yes? Have you _ seen _ yourself? Not to mention you’re actually kind of nice when you don’t hate me.”

Castiel flushes, running a hand through his hair. “Well, I, um… I’m free Friday.”

Dean grins. “It’s a date.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find **this fic** on [Tumblr](https://fangirlingtodeath513.tumblr.com/post/187294379464/a-true-match-a-destiel-fanfic-rating-general) and [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/812815)  
  
Find **me** on [Tumblr](https://fangirlingtodeath513.tumblr.com/) and [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/fangirlingtodeath513)  
  
**Please don’t post my works anywhere without my permission.**


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